Canada is the first nation who is being forced by the CRTC and Bell to put a meter on our internet usage and charge by the byte. This means a lot of the stuff we have available right now won't be affordable because we'll have to pay through the nose for it. This is a cheap shot to force people to stop streaming movies and TV shows through innovative services like Netflix to go back to watching cable TV. The cap they are proposing is 25GB/month which is a fraction of what we currently have and we'll get charged for going over that limit. We'll be paying more for a lot less of what we have now.

Metered Internet usage (also called "Usage-Based Billing") is coming to Canada, and it's going to cost Internet users. While an advance guard of Canadians are expressing creative outrage at the prospect of having to pay inflated prices for Internet use charged by the gigabyte, the consequences probably haven't set in for most consumers. Now, however, independent Canadian ISPs are publishing their revised data plans, and they aren't pretty.

"Like our customers, and Canadian internet users everywhere, we are not happy with this new development," wrote the Ontario-based indie ISP TekSavvy in a recent e-mail message to its subscribers.

But like it or not, the Canadian Radio-Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved UBB for the incumbent carrier Bell Canada in September. Competitive ISPs, which connect to Canada's top telco for last-mile copper connections to customers, will also be metered by Bell. Even though the CRTC gave these ISPs a 15 percent discount this month (TekSavvy asked for 50 percent), it's still going to mean a real adjustment for consumers. This is going to hurt

Starting on March 1, Ontario TekSavvy members who subscribed to the 5Mbps plan have a new usage cap of 25GB, "substantially down from the 200GB or unlimited deals TekSavvy was able to offer before the CRTC's decision to impose usage based billing," the message added.

By way of comparison, Comcast here in the United States has a 250GB data cap. Looks like lots of Canadians can kiss that kind of high ceiling goodbye. And going over will cost you: according to TekSavvy, the CRTC put data overage rates at CAN $1.90 per gigabyte for most of Canada, and $2.35 for the country's French-speaking region.

Bottom line: no more unlimited buffet. TekSavvy users who bought the "High Speed Internet Premium" plan at $31.95 now get 175GB less per month.

"Extensive web surfing, sharing music, video streaming, downloading and playing games, online shopping and email," could put users over the 25GB cap, TekSavvy warns. Also, watch out "power users that use multiple computers, smartphones, and game consoles at the same time."

Wow, that really sucks! Who is the CRTC, and why are they able to force independent ISP's to lower their caps, even if those smaller ISP's are using space on those large companies' networks? The ONLY group who benefits here is the small handful of big companies. Very bad for competition. Who is the CRTC accountable to? Can't you force your politicians to appoint new people to the CRTC, if that's what the people want?

I hope this doesn't happen in the United States! In most places here we already have telcommunications monopolies. Sometimes they won't expand and upgrade infrastructure unless regulations are relaxed. They're the ones in control. Are antitrust laws to break up monopolies the only way to stop this? I believe the government does have a role in preventing these kinds of massive monopolies that hurt competition and innovation in such a big way.

Actually, it's Bell who's doing it. The CRTC just authorized it. CRTC is accountable to the government, I guess. They are the "Canadian Radio-Telecommunications Commission". The issue has already gone to parliament and political parties are speaking out against it.

Apparently Comcast tried to do this in the States and got sued for it.

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